When to take off puppy food

Any suggestions on the correct age to take a sheepie off puppy food? I have heard conflicting things from the vet and want to make sure Jackson is getting the proper protein for her needs but MAN, puppy food is expensive!!! She is 11 months old, 65-70 lbs, big feet (or maybe there just fluffy ), and has gained about 5 lbs this summer so far. She eats alot of food, about 8 cups per day, and is fairly thin (not one bit overweight). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

8 cups a day! Do you mean 8 cups of a cup that you use to pour the food out or 8 actual cups like from a measuring cup? That is an incredible amount of food, especially if it's the latter. If you're feeding that much, I'd swap out to a higher quality of food so you get more nutrition per cup and, consequently, don't have to feed as much food. Or, if you're already feeding a high quality food and she's eating that much, you may want to have a full work up done to see if she has something else going on that causing her to eat so much and not gain a lot of weight.

WOW!!! 8 cups a day? No wonder its expensive! Tonks and Luna, at their height of growth, were struggling to finish the 2 cups a meal, 4 cups a day! At 10 months old, they are down to almost finishing their 3 cups a day; thats 1.5 cups, twice a day. I do supplement with a split can of wet food between the two of them, for each meal.

What food are you feeding your pup?

I would also think a higher quality food or a check up at the vet is in order if she is eating 8 cups of food.... that's tons.

Thank you all for the reply's. Sounds like we need to look into a higher quality food. We live in a very small town in northern Michigan so only have regular access to basic store brands (Purina, etc.). Right now she eats Beneful, which based on the reply's must not be a very good dog food. I could always stock up when going downstate to the city or try ordering food online. Any suggestions for better quality grub? And also, how long she needs to be on a food designated as for puppies?

Each dog will be different - just like humans

Archie is quite skinny underneath his fluff, when he turned one the other week he was 82lbs and the Vet gave him a clean bill of health on his annual.

Archie is on Purina ProPlan Puppy food, and is still happy to wolf it down twice a day he gets 2 feeds of 300g about 10 1/2 oz each time + the odd treat obviously!

At 1 yr I started all of ours on pro plan adult lamb and rice. Our breeder has used it for years and finds it works well for all. I might add that they seem to eat less not so hungry. The big plus is the amount of poop is MUCH less.

Cornell Veterinary School Nutritionist recommends that large breed dogs be taken off puppy food at 6-8 months. The protein content is too high and can cause a disparity between bone and muschle growth.

My Vet had me switch both dogs at 6 months to a food that was around 21-22% protein. Select a food that has minimal filler and is calorie dense.

Not sure where up north you live but if you can't find a pet store that sells the food you'd like to feed, you might try a farm/feed store. We do have a PetSmart and Pet Supplies Plus but one didn't sell the food we decided upon and the other didn't consistently stock the quantity we needed. But we did find that a little ol' farm store is happy to special order food for us.